Surveillance expansion threatens press freedom – and everyone else's
Image created using Midjourney, CC BY-NC
Mass surveillance is widespread. Congress must rein in government spying powers.
In 2013, whistleblower and longtime Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) board member Edward Snowden’s stunning revelations of mass surveillance by the National Security Agency shocked the world. Since then, we’ve learned even more about the alarming scope of surveillance by the U.S. government.
Mass surveillance undermines everyone’s privacy, and it threatens press freedom by allowing the government to spy on communications between journalists and their sources.
Featured Items
-
This Week in Transparency: Holder's legacy, Stingrays, and more
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. Holder resigns: You probably heard the news that Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation yesterday. Holder will leave behind a historic legacy on many issues, but unfortunately …
-
Eric Holder was the worst Attorney General for the press in a generation. We deserve better.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced he would resign yesterday, after serving as the nation’s top law enforcement official since President Obama came into office in 2009. Holder will leave behind a complex and hotly debated legacy at the Justice Department on many issues, but one thing is clear: he …
-
Dangerous Law In Australia Could Criminalize Basic Reporting and Gut Internet Freedom
Earlier today, the Australian Senate passed a sweeping new ‘anti-terror’ law that will allow the Australian government to conduct mass surveillance on all of its citizens, will make whistleblowing on intelligence issues a crime, and threatens to criminalize basic reporting. The bill is an enormous threat to press freedom, free …
-
It’s Time for a Real Debate on Reader Privacy
Last week longtime local publisher Howard Owens, founder of the online news site the Batavian, launched a new publication covering Wyoming County in upstate New York. Buried in a parenthetical within his welcome message to readers was a fascinating promise: “We’ll also respect your privacy by not gathering personal data …
-
Fifteen Months After the NSA Revelations, Why Aren’t More News Organizations Using HTTPS?
More than fifteen months after the NSA revelations laid bare the overwhelming scope of online surveillance and fueled the demand for privacy, virtually none of the top news websites—including all those who have reported on the Snowden documents—have adopted the most basic of security measures to protect the integrity of …
-
When Can the FBI Use National Security Letters to Go After Journalists? That’s Classified
Two weeks ago, the DOJ Inspector General released a report on the FBI’s use of National Security Letters (NSLs)—the controversial (and unconstitutional) surveillance instruments used to gather personal information of Americans without any prior oversight from a judge. In a little-noticed passage buried in the report, the IG describes …
-
This Week in Transparency: SWAT Secrecy and PACER Problems
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. SWAT Secrecy and Pentagon Hand-me-downs This week the ACLU issued a report on police militarization based on hundreds of public records requests to police departments across the country. …
-
This Week in Transparency: Ferguson and GITMO Force-Feeding
This post is adapted from CJ Ciaramella's weekly Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.FOIAs of the week: There's a quote about geography—via my old friend and GIS ninja Lyzi Diamond—that's stuck with me for a long time and might as …
-
Help us crowd-fund the FBI file on one of the nation's unsung civil liberties heroes
There are roughly 35,000 pages of unreleased FBI documents on one of the true unsung heroes of the civil liberties movement in the United States, and we need your help to make them public. You may have heard part of this extraordinary story when it was first revealed earlier …
-
Lessons from Ferguson: Police Militarization is Now a Press Freedom Issue
The situation in Ferguson, Missouri—where four days ago the police killed an unarmed teenager—took another disturbing turn yesterday as cops decked out in riot gear arrested and assaulted two reporters covering the protests, Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post’s Ryan Reilly, as they were sitting in a …
Something went wrong and your email updates subscription could not be processed. Please visit our signup page and try again.
Thank you for speaking up against warrantless surveillance of journalists and other Americans
Share this message on social media: